Mexicans take their petrol protest to the presidential palace

Thousands of Mexicans have held a protest rally in front of the presidential palace over a major hike in the cost of petrol.

The government announced last month that it would stop subsidising fuel from January 1 and immediately the price rose by 20 percent. A gallon of petrol is now the same as the daily minimum wage.

“This will raise the price of basic household products. The price of tortillas will go up. The price of meat will go up. Because they are all products that are transported so if gasoline prices go up, the cost of transportation for all products goes up,” said one protester.

During the last few days some protests have turned violent resulting in the deaths of at least six people. There have been around 1500 arrests.

President Enrique Pena Nieto has called for calm, saying to continue with the subsidy would have threatened the economy.

Petrol price hike sparks protests and looting in Mexico NEWS >> https://t.co/iRLJlhatTH #news #post #press pic.twitter.com/Gd5EY2jDQW

— TubeNews en (@tubenewsen) January 6, 2017